Breaking Bad - late to the party and struggling

Yea, I gave up by then and never went back. It's obviously very popular but didn't hook me. But in 2012 when I had Sky I gave up on Games of Thrones and last year watched all of them over a 2 month period.

Started off mediocre and went downhill from there.

Yes that's everybody's experience. Yes season 5 picks up and is worth it, never as good as the first couple of seasons though

Can't say I remember it tapering off. I enjoyed it all the way through. The characters and the story developed nicely imo.

Enjoyed it all the way through too. Are you bingeing it too hardcore?

Yeh.. gave up about season 4.. just couldn’t be arsed with the two main characters shouting at each other all the time.

I am in the same position- late to the party and at almost the exact point except Im 5 episodes ahead of you I.e just about to watch finale of S4

and just like you I almost gave up around the middle of this season. Way too much family white nonsense and not enough Mike and the cartel nutters.  All I can say is that episode 10 ,11 and 12 are a real return to form so I’m hoping the last episode will be too.

I gave up after 3rd episode of first series. Being the romantic that I am, I sat and watched the rest of series 1 with my partner. Gave up after that and she watched the rest of the boxset on her own. I got the last 10 minutes of the last episode and seemed to manage to recap the gaps that I didn't watch.
Save your time and watch something else...

I thought all of it was good, and much of it was outstanding. But if you're not feeling it, move on.

I finally got round to watching it last year. Seasons 1-3 were good, 4 and 5 I just wanted Walter to die, and soon, he is no Tony Soprano, got sick of him pretty quick.

Better Call Saul on the other hand, absolute class. Stick with BB to enjoy BCS.

Out of all those classic US series (The Wire, The Sopranos, The Americans, Mad Men etc), Breaking Bad was the one I never got into. Gave up in the first series.

Yes, season 4 is hard work but worth it in the end.

I’m hoping the last episode will be too.

Different league entirely.

Took me 3 attempts over a year+ to finally see it through to the end, Better Call Saul was a similar experience but I get bored with American tv series at the best of times as they really drag them out to a final conclusion.

I thought all of it was good, and much of it was outstanding. But if you’re not feeling it, move on.

This. Don't waste you time with it if you don't enjoy it.

Best thing I have ever watched. Rewatched it all 4 months ago after first seeing it many years ago and still loved it.

I wonder if there is any one that will have watched Better Call Saul first,I think it would enhance the BB experience if you had all that in the back of your head.After enjoying BCS so much,I was tempted to rewatch BB.

Yep, tried BB, but gave up after 3 episodes. Then watched Better call Saul and loved it…. Then went back to BB and watched it all - didn’t think it was anywhere near as good as Better call Saul, but watching that first gives the characters and story a whole
New depth.

Is it possible to watch Better Call Saul without having watched Breaking Bad (or vice versa) - or do you need both for either to make sense?

I think you need BB for the full effect of BCS.

Me and my partner think same as 2orangey4crows, Better Call Saul os better. My partner finds it one of the best Netflix shows. Love the cinematography, the slow storytelling is refreshing for an American show. I would give BCS a go. And don't watch something you aren't into.

I think BCS is so well done,it's easily good enough to watch as a stand alone without going anywhere near BB.

didn’t think it was anywhere near as good as Better call Saul, but watching that first gives the characters and story a whole New depth.

^^Yup,I kept wanting to go back to certain classic episodes of BB with my new BCS info 😃

Never got past the first series, just didn’t like any of the characters.

Watched first couple of seasons and gave up - it felt like the humour disappeared & spiralled into an overhyped soap.

Yep I watched BCS first and that’s the only reason I embarked on BB.

BCS is definitely my favourite of the two and though it gives some spoilers it does make BB a more involved watch.

I think the problem as several have already stated is that in BCS you are ready rooting for the 2 central characters as well as some of the peripheral ones (Natcho Varga for instance) and in BB you are really rooting for the bad guys because the central 2 characters are both idiots…still some great scenes though.

First time I watched BB I gave during the fifth season. Watched it again recently with my partner and watched the entire thing this time, definitely felt like a grind at times. BCS went on too long as well for me. I'm of the opinion that only comedies should go on for longer than 2 or 3 seasons.

Seems like we aren’t totally alone then.

The ‘if you don’t enjoy it stop watching it’ argument is perfectly reasonable, but having invested enough time now to have learned a second language, I kind of feel compelled to see it through. The only caveat (hence the reason for the post) is that it gets better from here on. If it is just a dull and slow, I’ll give up now. If it is just a lull and gets better I will continue.

I am not a big fan of US TV, hence being so late to this party. BB has reminded me exactly why so we probably won’t be repeating the experience on The Sopranos, GOT etc etc etc.

The season where his bro in law was injured was boring, other than that we really enjoyed it.

We did give up on the Sopranos after 5 1/2 seasons, got sick of Tony making the same mistakes, over and over.

Lifes too short, if its not for you, move on.

I still think The Wire is the best series I've ever watched.Although Heist was great too.

Is it possible to watch Better Call Saul without having watched Breaking Bad (or vice versa)

I think so - there are characters that familiar to both series - but all thats happening if you've watched BB first is you know that a given person is going to be more important to Saul than he realises at the moment he meets them - so theres an aspect of anticipation when certain familiar faces first appear. But the whole point is the series for the most part precedes BB so theres nothing you need to know to follow it.

I thought most of it was good, some of it was very good, but overall it's not as great as it's reputation.

If it's the same season where I lost interest, it really picks up with the tortoise scene.

It's probably the best TV show I've ever seen.
Season 5 and 6 were excellent and really build on Jessie's character.

I thought it was a good show, not as good as The Sopranos or The Wire, but still pretty good.

One thing that a lot of fans of The Sopranos and Breaking Bad missed completely was that Tony Soprano and Walter White were anti-heroes. They were utter ****s who deserved to meet horrible fates. Carmela Soprano was probably even worse, she knew what Tony was but wanted the money and house too much to kick him out. A lot of BB fans hated on Skyler for being a nag, etc., completely missing the point that her flaws were just normal human flaws, it was Walt who was the murderous psycho.

At the start of BB, the audience felt sorry for Walt, but by the end he was just loathsome. I thought that was what made the show great - seeing him show his true nature bit by bit. Jesse started out as a joke character but redeemed himself - he was really just a messed up kid who got out of his depth. The plot of BB was preposterously implausible, but the cast were fantastic. Even the slow episodes were just fantastic to watch just for the little details. Jesse coming for dinner was always one of my favorite scenes.

It is what it is: one of the best black comedies ever to be filmed.

Great television.

I have watched from start to finish 4 times.

I first watched it back in about 2010 on the FX channel, it started as a black comedy but went a bit more serious as it went on.

Walter changes over time, every time he murders someone he gets a bit darker.

My Mrs hates it and can't understand why I enjoy so much. Each to their own.

I thought it was brilliant. I loved it despite having no interest in (what is superficially) the subject matter.

But if you're "struggling" then just sack it off, it's not like we're short of choices for quality viewing.

I thought the first series was pretty ropey, early episodes certainly, couldn't see what people were going on about. Got better as it went along after that. BCS was far better.

started watching it for the first time a few months ago, currently on series 5, probably about halfway through. I think it's been great, thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

I loved it, although I’ll admit it is fairly slow in places. If I remember correctly season 4 has a great ending, so worth seeing it out to the end perhaps.

Not sure I could watch it again though due to finding Walters wife one of the most irritating people on tv!

finding Walters wife one of the most irritating people on tv!

She was supposed to be! Her sister was even worse. But they were just normal people. Walt was a monster.

I gave up near the start of S2. Wasn't for me.

I thought that was what made the show great – seeing him show his true nature bit by bit.

The prospect of this was what attracted me to the show. But I didn't feel that it achieved it. Walter commits his first murder in Season 1, Episode 1, and it steps up from there! I just couldn't buy into the idea that he starts the show as a mild mannered school teacher.

Walter commits his first murder in Season 1, Episode 1

Yes, but reluctantly. It was basically self defense, the guy he killed was trying to kill him.

I just couldn’t buy into the idea that he starts the show as a mild mannered school teacher.

It was written to portray him as that, but he was a total asshole lurking under the surface. There was an early scene where some kids were mocking Walt Jr. is a shop and Walt Sr. gave them a beat down. Seemed like a frustrated dad lashing out in a way you can understand at the time, but not in hindsight. Later on they got into his backstory as the genius behind the billionaire friends (Gretchen and Elliot?) and you realize that he's a self-destructive asshole. To me, the genius of the show was that there were clues to his evilness right from the start, but he hid it under the persona of the mild mannered school teacher. Once he realized he was facing death, his real personality emerged. Bryan Cranston did a fantastic job showing the contradictions of the character, switching from pathetic loser to scheming evil genius effortlessly.

I loved it. Watched it all twice.

Once he realized he was facing death, his real personality emerged.

the settling for the morality of family life will do that I guess

One thing that a lot of fans of The Sopranos and Breaking Bad missed completely was that Tony Soprano and Walter White were anti-heroes. They were utter ****s who deserved to meet horrible fates. Carmela Soprano was probably even worse, she knew what Tony was but wanted the money and house too much to kick him out. A lot of BB fans hated on Skyler for being a nag, etc., completely missing the point that her flaws were just normal human flaws, it was Walt who was the murderous psycho.

I don't think many fans missed this completely at all. Hardly any to be honest as it's completely bloody obvious. Are you just reading this out verbatim from one of the thousands of YouTube videos that keep regurgitating these tropes..?

😉

At the start of BB, the audience felt sorry for Walt, but by the end he was just loathsome. I thought that was what made the show great – seeing him show his true nature bit by bit. Jesse started out as a joke character but redeemed himself – he was really just a messed up kid who got out of his depth. The plot of BB was preposterously implausible, but the cast were fantastic. Even the slow episodes were just fantastic to watch just for the little details. Jesse coming for dinner was always one of my favorite scenes.

Absolutely! Love the way walt just turns into a monster 🙂 And so sad how poor Jesse gets destroyed by it all.